Photo by Gage Vota Belmont County Job and Family Services Fiscal Advisor Jack Regis Jr. informs Belmont County Commissioners what the organization’s new Family Team Meeting Facilitator will do.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE – Belmont County Commissioners opened the lone bid for the county’s Job and Family Services department’s family team meeting facilitator on Wednesday morning. Kendall Behavioral Solutions based out of Martins Ferry placed a bid of $200 per meeting for its services.

The contract will run from July 1 through June 30 of 2027.

Fiscal Advisor Jack Regis Jr. said that open, ongoing children’s services cases are required by Ohio Revised Code to have a family team meeting facilitator at least once every six months. He added that the facilitator may be more frequently involved with cases if there are significant activities that occur in between the six-month periods.

Regis said that facilitator is someone who is a mediator between DJFS, families, foster families, and outside agencies working with the family to meet the goal of reunification.

“The facilitator kind of chairs the meeting and outlines the objectives and goals as well as reviews the previous meeting, and outlines things that need to be worked toward before the next meeting, and making sure everything stays on task within the case plan between the family, the agency, and the outside organizations working with the family,” Regis said.

He added that, after the bid opening, he will take it back to DJFS to review it and possibly meet with the bidder. Belmont County Commisssioner Jerry Echemann then asked Regis how DJFS decides what factors go into determining the amount paid for the service.

Regis said that the agency estimates the number of team meetings based on the caseload sizes. He added that he then adds a little bit of extra units to cover any additional team meetings that may pop up because of changes, so that the rate would be good for the entire year.

Echemann then approved a motion to enter into the supplemental agreement to the permit for installation of license plate reader in the Ohio Department of Transportation right away between the Belmont County Sheriff’s Office and Flock Safety for a to-be-determined location. The motion set the terms and conditions for the installation and use of a license plate reader in the ODOT right of way.

“I’ve been assured that this license plate reader is not for the purpose of catching people speeding or anything like that,” Echemann said. “The idea is that if a person commits a crime somewhere and they’re fleeing on the interstate, that they would be able to go back and get a picture of that license plate, same as if you go through a toll they take a shot of your license plate, it’s like that.”

He then approved Martins Ferry’s application in accordance with Ohio Revised Code Section 45 for the use of municipal street fund vehicle license tax in the amount of $35,000.

Echemann said that the motion was based upon the recommendation of Belmont County Engineer Terry Lively for paving improvements.

“The estimated cost is $35,000 of which all will be paid from this source,” Echemann said. “It’s my understanding that this section of road to be paved is right in front of United Dairy, which will be nice.”